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New Home Gifts: 17 Ideas for a Happy Housewarming

Few moments in life are as challenging and rewarding as moving to a new home. Will we be happy here? What new experiences await? What will we miss about the place from which we came? Anticipation, nostalgia, and exhaustion swirl around each other until day by day things start to fall into place.

Does your housewarming gift get them excited to start their new lives?

Does it help them remember their past life fondly?

Does it help them relax in their new home?

The List: 17 Gifts for a Happy Housewarming

1. Custom Illustration of Previous Home ($38-79)

If you know their prior address, sometimes a snapshot from Google Street View is all you need.

Help smooth the transition from old to new with a custom illustration of the house they left behind. You’ll need to order 2-4 weeks in advance and you’ll need to decide whether you want a simple line drawing or full watercolor. Bonus points for securing a photo of the old house without letting the new home owners know what you’re up to.

3. Custom House Map ($40-85)

Order it framed with a custom gift card and it arrives ready to go.

You provide the address and info for the new homeowners, and Jamie of Etsy shop Basketful of Grace will have your custom map print ready in about a week. This is a particularly cool new home gift for anyone who lives amongst interesting geography! Jamie uses a textured archival paper for each print that feels like it’s built to last a lifetime.

4. Funny Tea Towels ($12/ea)

Pick out a few favorites or give the new home owners the full set!

Anyone who spends time in the kitchen will appreciate these witty and colorful tea towels from Etsy shop Do Take It Personally. Each towel opens up to a generous 16 x 24″ size and the woven polyester and microfiber blend is soft to the touch and super absorbent. If the new home owners didn’t get rid of their ragged old kitchen towels before the move, they will now!

5. Home State Candle ($23)

All 50 states are available, each with a unique scent.

Anyone from Ohio knows that the rich chocolate-y scent of Skyline Chili and peanut butter buckeyes brings back fond memories. What smells remind you of home?

These ingenious Home State Candles are perfect housewarming gifts for anyone that recently moved across state lines. Go for nostalgia and give them the candle for the state they just left, or go for anticipation and give them the candle for their new state. Or go big and give them both for a side by side comparison! Customize the note on the lid to make it extra personal.

6. Leather Recipe Book ($42+)

What sets this handmade leather journal from Forest Nine apart from all the rest is that it’s made to exacting standards of quality. Your choice of pages (lined, recipe, bullets, or blank) are hand bound to a genuine rustic leather cover that’s then stamped with a deep black custom monogram. Forest Nine uses waxed linen thread and a long stitch binding method to guarantee many happy page turns. Allow 2-3 weeks for your custom journal to arrive from Canada.

7. Burr Coffee Grinder ($24+)

Serious coffee drinkers know that different brewing methods call for beans ground to varying degrees of coarseness. The JavaPresse Manual Burr Mill allows you to dial into 18 different grind settings, and it’s SO much quieter than an electric grinder. With no cords or batteries to deal with, this is one housewarming gift that’ll work just as well on the road or camping out. And if the new home owners aren’t the “manual” kind of folks, then they’ll want this electric grinder instead.

8. Lemon Tree In a Box ($12)

This won’t mess up your car like a real lemon tree would.

If you don’t want to spring for an actual lemon tree (which isn’t a bad idea), this grow your own lemon tree kit is the next best thing. Pots, pellets, markers, and seeds are all included, along with instructions so the new home owners don’t accidentally kill off their sapling before it produces that first batch of summer lemonade.

9. Ceramic Whiskey Tumblers for Him ($22)

A unique shot glass design that’s food safe and made to order in 1-2 weeks.

Let’s face it, many of these excellent new home gifts skew towards the new queen of the castle. Lest the man of the house be forgotten, you may want to take along a pair of playful wheel thrown whiskey tumblers to the housewarming party. Yeah, they’ll work for espresso too, but it’s much cooler to break them out for a nightcap.

10. Framed Skyline Art ($18-49)

These look sharp in the shadow box frame at $49 total.

If the new homeowners are urban dwellers, there’s probably a skyline for that! Pick their new city (or the old one if they’ve just moved to the suburbs) and customize their print with names and the date of their big move. Order it framed in a white or black shadow box for easy gifting or get it unframed if you’re more of a DIY type.

11. Cheeky Camping Mug ($20)

Stoke some pride and attitude with this funny camp-style mug.

Buying your first home isn’t easy. Prices are rising across the country and now interest rates are going up too. Getting your first home purchase closed is certainly something to brag about. Let this rustic mug from Etsy shop Lace and Twig do the talking for you.

12. Knotty Doorstopper ($40)

The knotty doorstop is convenient, stylish, and nearly indestructible.

Let the breeze in and keep your options open! Clocking in at four pounds, this handy doorstop is heavy enough to keep the door right where you want it and light enough to move around as needed. It looks great with almost any style of decor and is clearly built to last with heavy duty jute twine.

13. Oil Dipping Spice Kit ($38)

Mix and match the 15 different spices for an endless array of flavors.

Transform the new home owners’ kitchen into a fine dining experience with this zesty gourmet spice kit for olive oil dipping. Each herb and spice is carefully selected to provide a tour of different cuisines: French, Italian, Spanish, and Moroccan. Suggested bread and olive oil pairings are included, but it’s just as much fun to wing it and experiment on your own!

14. Tea or Coffee Subscription ($9+/mo)

Tea or coffee? Regular or decaf? Single origin or who cares? There’s a subscription that’s right for everyone.

Help the new home owners tackle the exhaustion of moving with a monthly delivery of their pick-me-up of choice. If it’s coffee that gets them going in the morning, then Driftaway Coffee’s monthly subscription is your best bet. They ship within 48 hours of roasting and source from small local growers around the world.

For tea lovers, we love Simple Loose Leaf because for only $9/mo you get four different teas. And if you gift a one year subscription, it works out to less than $8/mo.

15. New Home Gift Box ($36)

Who doesn’t love cookies and confetti?

When you can’t be there in person, this playful Confetti Gift Box is way more fun to receive than a stodgy basket of overripe fruit. The delightful contents include a handmade flower-scented candle, cute matches, a live succulent, colorful confetti to celebrate the occasion, two chewy cookies, and a card with your custom handwritten note inside. You supply the contents for the note and a shipping address. Confetti Gift Co does the rest!

16. Table Topics Conversation Starter ($25)

Housewarming party? Be sure to bring plenty of conversation.

A house full of lively conversation is a happy home indeed. Make sure the new home owners keep the conversation going with a set of creative Table Topics. The original edition includes 135 conversation starters for dinner events, backyard BBQs, or even housewarming parties. Other popular editions include family, couples, teens, girls night out, and happiness.

17. Spirit Infusion Kit ($40)

It’s surprisingly easy to make your own flavored vodka, gin, or whiskey. Just add the booze!

Give the new home owners a head start behind the bar with this nifty spirits infusion kit. It comes with a recipe booklet with concise instructions for making many different flavored vodkas in as little as 24 hours. Your Bloody Marys, Cosmos, and Martinis will never be the same!

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Did we miss one of your favorite housewarming gifts? Tell us about it in the comments and we might include it in a regular post update!